May Day 2010 is one of those "America needs to repent and turn to God before he opens a big can of whip ass on us" events religious right groups generally hold when they are either trying to raise more funds or galvanize more folks through scare tactics.

And I think LaBarbera takes the cake here. According to People for the American Way's Religious Right Watch:

Peter LaBarbera . . . used his five minutes to attack gays, asking God to forgive us for our "excessive tolerance," lamenting "the long secular road America has traveled from 'abomination' to 'gay'," and for allowing "homosexual activists ... to fulfil their wicked plan of turning America's schools, public and sometimes private, into homosexuality promotion zones"

The idea that this silly man accuses the lgbt community of being some secret evil group out of a James Bond is extremely offensive and I would get angry if LaBarbera's prayer wasn't so hilariously ludicrous. Particularly 2:22 to 2:40 when he interrupts his prayer (to God) to explain to the audience one of the sources he cites.

Who knew prayers came with footnotes?

Folks like LaBarbera seem to always forget that lgbts can pray too and not only that, God hears our prayers.

This particular gay man won't be praying for his destruction, only that LaBarbera finally receives some type of inner peace.

Maybe then he will leave the lgbt community alone.

Not that I'm hinting anything, mind you.

UPDATE - According to Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out, the $70,000 event was a HUGE flop.

John Berry is President Obama's director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

He is also openly gay and according to the Family Research Council (FRC), he is also proof that the ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) is some type of nefarious plans by the gay community to gain "special rights." Tony Perkins, head of the FRC, said the following in an email:

If ENDA becomes law, the government will order businesses -- including faith-based businesses -- to cast aside their personal beliefs and hire homosexuals and cross-dressers, even if the employer considers these lifestyles immoral and inappropriate for their business.

Even groups like the Boy Scouts and child care providers aren't exempt from the bill's oppressive demands.

Worse still, ENDA will make it easier for activist judges to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- the most important protection for marriage that exists in our country!

I know that because the most powerful open homosexual in the Obama administration says it will:

John Berry, the director of the federal personnel office, says: "If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time" before pro-family, pro-marriage laws topple under its weight.

Even without FRC's track record for relying on distortions and fear tactics, it's easy to see that the organization's email contains a complete bastardization of Berry's words.

According to the Washington Blade (by way of lgbt-positive webpage Queerty and the anti-gay web page Americans for Truth), Berry was addressing Out for Work’s national convention at the Westin City Center Hotel in D.C. in September of last year and this is what was actually said:

Berry advocated for the importance of ENDA — and identified repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act as other priorities — in response to an audience member’s question about possible legislative issues on the horizon and criticism that President Obama isn’t moving quickly enough on LGBT issues.

“The most important thing we can do right now is we got to … secure the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — and it’s got to include full transgender protections,” Berry said. “I believe that if we all concentrate our efforts where it needs to be concentrated, which is on the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we can get the job done.”

Other pro-LGBT legislation can be more easily achieved, Berry said, if Congress were to pass ENDA.

“If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time before all the rest happens,” he said. “It is the keystone that holds up the whole bunch, and so we need to focus our energies and attention there.”

This is what Berry said about DOMA:

Berry noted that Obama has called DOMA [discriminatory] and urged for its legislative repeal, but the OPM director added the best way toward overturning the law would be through the courts and not Congress.

“I will tell you personally I believe that I think the courts will strike this down before Congress will have to repeal it legislatively,” he said. “And thank goodness because, in this case, the backbone is not there in Congress.”

Now some may argue that the definition of a "pro-family" law is up for interpretation, therefore there may not have been any distortion of Berry's quote on that point. This is a matter of perspective. Clearly to FRC, anything that benefits the gay community is not pro-family, in spite of the fact that a myriad of lgbt families populate this country.

However in regards to so-called "pro-marriage" laws, Berry in no way said that ENDA would make it easier for judges to overturn DOMA. He merely said that litigation through the courts could overturn DOMA.

Whatever the case may be, for FRC to claim that Berry said "If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time" before pro-family, pro-marriage laws topple under its weight is a deliberate misinterpretation of his words.

And for those familiar with FRC's habit of claiming angel wings while hiding its horns and pitchfork, it's business as usual.

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 46-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.